NEW DELHI: In the Executive Committee Meeting held on July 2, 2025, as a follow-up to the earlier meeting held on April 7, 2025, AIFF President Shri Kalyan Chaubey reiterated the decision to create a Benevolence Fund to support individuals associated with football — including ex-Players, coaches, referees, match officials, support staff, and even football journalists. The fund will provide a one-time grant for medical purposes, with terms and conditions to be set by the relevant committees.

He cited recent instances where individuals sought financial help for serious medical conditions, but AIFF lacked a specific fund or policy to support them. To initiate the fund, the President announced a personal contribution of ₹ 1,00,001, which was matched by Vice President Shri NA Haris, bringing the initial total to ₹ 2,00,002.

AIFF will also contribute an amount of ₹ 5,00,000 to the Benevolence Fund, thereby raising the initial corpus to ₹ 7,00,002. Furthermore, the AIFF will proactively explore avenues to enhance the fund over time, including the organisation of charity matches and mobilising support from other potential sources of revenue and partnerships.

A dedicated committee will be formed to evaluate applications on a case-to-case basis, comprising members from the Treasurer's office, the Finance Committee, the Medical Committee, and the Technical Committee.

The AIFF President emphasised that this initiative is a humanitarian gesture, recognising the lifelong contributions of those who have served Indian football. In addition to the Benevolence Fund, the President proposed the establishment of a Pension Fund for AIFF employees who have served 20 years or more and have retired from the organisation at the age of 60 or later (the terms and conditions will be set by the relevant committees).

To implement the above, the All India Football Federation’s Finance Committee met at the Football House in New Delhi on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, and approved the opening of new bank accounts for the Benevolence and Pension Funds.

Present at the meeting were Finance Committee chairperson Mr. Menla Ethenpa, AIFF Treasurer Mr. Kipa Ajay, Deputy Secretary General Mr. M Satyanarayan, and members Mr. Syed Imtiaz Hussain, Mr. Mayank Anilkumar Buch, and Mr. LV Lalthantluanga.

In addition to this, the members of the Finance Committee reviewed the accounts for the financial year 2024-25 and sent them for audit.

The Finance Committee also proposed a new procurement policy, which will be forwarded to the Executive Committee for approval at its next meeting.